Menendez prostitution allegation is flimsy, the rest is plausible: Editorial

The scandal surrounding Sen. Robert Menendez raises serious doubts about his fitness to serve as chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, a job he is scheduled to assume this week. Before he takes that post, Menendez needs to break his silence and explain himself.

Please. That charge emerged a few days before November’s election, and has all the markings of a dirty trick.

But there is more. Menendez took free rides to the Dominican Republic in 2010 in a private jet owned by a major donor, prominent eye doctor Salomon Melgen. And he kept that gift secret in what seems a certain violation of Senate rules, revealing the trips only last month after critics raised questions about his relationship with Melgen. Menendez has since reimbursed Melgen $58,500 for the flights.

We are supposed to believe this was an oversight, as a spokesman for Menendez claims. Sure. Why would anyone remember something so routine and mundane as a rich guy whisking you off to an exotic vacation in the Caribbean in a private jet? If the senator has no better explanation, he will richly deserve the reprimand the full Senate will no doubt impose on him.

The relationship with Melgen is at the heart of another piece of this scandal as well. According to a report in the New York Times, Menendez used his position on the Foreign Affairs Committee to advocate for Melgen’s shady business dealings in the Dominican Republican.

The deal concerns a contract to screen cargo leaving ports in the Dominican Republic. Melgen is no expert on port security, but in 2010 he bought an ownership interest in the firm that had won that contract, worth an estimated $500 million.

Melgen’s role seems to have been to provide political grease. The Dominican government had frozen the contract after questions surfaced about its legitimacy. The Dominican customs director had objected to its terms, which he considered too generous. In a letter, he cited the “lack of transparency, commercial ethics in the award of this contract.”

The suspect contract was also opposed by the American Chamber of Commerce in the Dominican Republic.

Why, then, did Menendez put pressure on officials at the State Department and Commerce Department over the contract during a hearing? Was he using his position on the Foreign Affairs Committee to advocate for his friend’s business interests? Keep in mind, Melgen was not a constituent; he was a money man who had given generously to Menendez.

This is tawdry stuff. For all his talents, Menendez seems to have behaved like a slippery Hudson County pol. We are eager to hear his explanation.